Organize Google Keep without Folders

Unlike Evernote, Google Keep does not have notebooks or a folder structure. So how do you organize all your notes? Here are the 2 main methods of managing your notes in Keep.

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Let's Connect!

Scott Friesen is a productivity specialist and founder of Simpletivity training and consulting. He is also a prolific public speaker, workshop leader, and time management coach.

[tinman]

I also use Keep for brief, short term notes. I settled on Google Keep over Evernote & OneNote because it's simple and seemed less clicky than other programs. I like the fact that I can show multiple notes simultaneously and read the short notes without clicking on them. And I've had better luck syncing with Android than with OneNote. The Chrome browser extension works well on my Windows machine. Using the Keep desktop app on Windows rather than the browser app allows me to access my stuff offline.

It could be better though. Here's the feedback I sent to Google on how to improve Keep:

Add option to store/backup notes locally.
Ability to Re-order Notes
Ability to Re-order Label menu
Voice recorder quits recording before I'm finished
BACK/FWD buttons like on a web browser would be nice
Undo button for any action
Date stamp button

[rodneyelhajj]

Thank you for sharing this info. Although I consider myself a Keep geek, I learned new things from your video today.
Keep is one of my best handy tools. I used it for almost anything:
- As a groceries checklist shared between me and my wife
- As a task list 📃 for my team
- As Business card organizer. Keep has a powerful OCR where you can search the text inside the photo taken. Not only that, keep allows you to search by type, like food or dinner, by objects, like table, beer etc...
- I found it handy also while taking notes in trainings or conferences. I open a keep note, give it a title and start adding photos of slides, my notes and recordings.
- and As a task reminder.
You can also label and archive your notes and you'll find them from search.
Hope my comment helps others get the maximum of their Keep.

[donsudduth]

I use Keep for all of my research for writing academic papers. The key is to use labels at a category, topic and reference levels for the citation work and what information I'm gathering. For example if a paper I'm citing is from Johnson (2016) on Exoplanets, I would create my notes and use labels 'Astronomy', 'Exoplanet-Project' and '2016-Johnson'. Plus, I would create a separate note only for the reference with the same labels and one more - 'Exoplanet-References'. Then, once all of the research is done, I export the notes under 'Exoplanet-Project' to Google Docs in the Keep menu which combines them to a single document of notes then export 'Exoplanet-References' to another Google Doc of only references. Works really well for any written project.

[Streivyr]

This was a great video, short and sweet - very concise!
I use two types of labels:
1. type e.g. family, work, health, travel etc
2. urgency e.g. current, upcoming
The two levels of labels help me pick out exactly what I need to prioritise, and it is simple enough that I can apply it consistently.

[bensilverstein]

I am a long time user of Evernote, but I started using Keep on my phone for shopping lists, etc. I find myself using it for more things all the time. Evernote is best for web page clipping and formatting notes. I use bullet points, highlighting and more in my Evernote files. Keep is a great utility as well. Tip: You can select a label, hit Ctrl-A to select all the notes and then assign a color to all of them. Evernote also has the capability of importing PDF files, which is very useful.

[traceysmith]

I have been color coding my google keep notes for last couple years and did not know I could search by color! This is life changing for me.

Also, on the color coding method I have one note that is a list of what colors I have assigned to what type of note. I mostly use Google Keep for short notes like shopping lists, temporary notes, or repeating reminders or checklists. I use Evernote and OneNote for longer text notes. Great video...lots of helpful tips for this great free tool.

[alexalonso]

Thanks, Scott. Love the video. Here's a tip I just learned: If you have a bunch of notes you need to archive, hit Ctrl + A to select them, now click the archive icon at the top, boom they're archived for you.

[Yielar]

Used Evernote in the past but have slowly gravitated to Keep as I use mainly Google apps in my Android phone anyway so it makes for an easy, seamless integration. One way I've been using my To Do List is to make it remind me daily at a specific time say at 9am. That way I can add things I need to do the day/night before and I get reminded at a certain time and work on getting things done throughout the day.

[Ogidni]

I am so bad at being organized, but after a minimum of training in the beginning of last year I have gotten to LOVE keep. It has made me 100% more efficient and I use it every day for both personal and professional stuff. Don't know how I got any thing done before.

[RobertDeloyd]

I was looking at Evernote videos and following them and it seemed a bit complicated for what I need... and then I watched your video on Google Keep and thought to myself...YES!

[robc]

In addition to not comparing note apps head to head because how we personally use them,
It is even more so in how these note apps interact with other products - for example no need for folders when you can you link to tasks and calendar where as apple’s notes may need kore organization options. Good video!

[sheentereditwellyarnischfe]

I did have pretty too much of labels, and one day they were out (!): they are not unlimited in quantity (50 or so).
That was a surprise for me.
So I went for even better — for inputting "code-words" in the title, that could be easely found when searched (powerful function in Keep).
The only problem is — the low speed of search (maybe my own phone problem), but the quality of finding is very nice.😊
So now I label only very-very general things "Project", "Idea", etc.

[DrClausTechTips]

I just wanted to say thank you for this video. I'm going to be trying something. I use Evernote for a few things. A todo list based on task type, reference notebooks, and note taking while I'm in class. What I'm going to do is for 3 months, I will move my Todo list over to Google Keep, leaving Evernote for the rest of the things. I will let you know how it works out.

[alfredodominguez]

I keep it organized by trashing or copying notes off the keep. Evernote or one note are best for web clipping. I use Google drive and their folders to deal with my information. At work I use an older computer and word 2010, windows 7. I use the chrome browser to use the MS office apps. I save my files to a work shared drive. I don't use Keep much at work because I usually have Word open, and use it to capture ideas. I use a pen and paper to take short notes of conversations or videos then make a digital file of them in Word.

Keep is good for taking a photo and OCR. I use the title to create a filename to integrate it into my Drive.
As differently as we think, we use keep almost the same way.

[allisont]

I pin things I need to see regularly. I use the reminder function when necessary. And... I downloaded an extension to customize my categories so I could name the colors. Very helpful.

[CliffLawrence]

I use Google Keep over Evernote for note I used to feel its just me lol.
I too take short notes....
only if there was an option for (bold, italic, highlight)

[jenniferdalwood]

Thanks for your video and it is very useful and handy to know more about Google Keep. I have recently downloaded it as I have been told it is an awesome app. I must say it is. I love it. I put lots of things on there, such as my dreams, my ideas for a story, my research notes, my poems quotes, jokes and riddles, my thoughts, and so on. I love how it syncs to other devices... that's very handy to know. So yeah, I only discovered it and downloaded it last week and it is awesome :)

[alfredodominguez]

I use keep to keep ideas. When I get an idea, I add a note, type in the idea. After I type the idea, I use the title as a future file name. For example, I get an idea how to inventory my tools. I type, tool inventory, hand, wrenches, metric, SAE, open-end,

After I get the idea our my head, I use the Title to write 20170112-idea-tool-inventory.
I use the save as feature to upload the file to Google docs. the Docs program will save the title as a file name.
When I write I get other ideas, so I open a new note and write power tools, AC, Cordless, manufacturer, model numbers, then title the note 20170112. Sometimes I make about 8 notes at a time. On my computer browser I can select multiple notes and combine them into one Google doc which has the title of the first note selected.
I used to use labels and colors to keep large amounts of information. I lost information by deleting a highlighted section instead of pasting it. There is no undo in Keep so that information is gone. I don't keep much in keep for that reason.
I prefer the calendar for reminders. I prefer imputing the data right into Google calendar rather than using the keep function.
I have too many passwords to remember. I have one note with all my passwords. I encrypt the numbers and words so the list is only good for me. If my wife saw this note it wouldn't make any sense to her unless I told her the key.
I use keep to look at a quote until I memorise it or change it. I only keep about 10 notes . I either trash them or save them to Google docs.

[zelphiaellerson]

I'm transitioning my recipes to Google Keep, making use of the different labels. It's really easy to cross reference.

[FilmFloozy]

I use the colors to represent days of the week.